Phil McConkey
Played 6 years in the NFL as a WR, punt returner and kick returner for the Giants, Packers, Cardinals and Chargers. Played college football at the Naval Academy and served in the U.S. Navy before joining the NFL. Best remembered for his oustanding game in Super Bowl XXI.

OTA: week 10 Texans Bears

[played QB one year in high school] I ask Jay, if we switched positions which one of us would be more productive? Cover-1 I would send everyone deep, cover-2 I’m handing it to Forte.

Jay came over to my house, we were getting fitted for suits. He had his baby Cam with him and showed up tons of baby gear. It was nap time, he put the baby in the guest bedroom but he was screaming and crying and wouldn’t go to sleep [Cam, not Jay]. Jay put him in the stroller, moved it around a little and the kid was asleep in 3 minutes. Jay struck a pose, ‘boom, baby whisperer’.

[before the trade]
Brandon: I texted Jay a lot last year.
Jay: harassed is more like it.

[Cutler on Marshall, with Marshall in the room] It used to be (in Denver), ‘is B going to make it in today? Is B going to practice today? We’ve got to get him to go hard. Let’s just try to get him to Sunday’. Now, you watch him in practice, it’s every day, day in day out, of pushing the guys, making his receiver group better, making this offense better. It’s a joy to work with him now and to watch how hard he works. He’s getting better and better every day. It’s impressive to see where he’s at now and know how good he was in the past and he’s gotten even better since then

Brian Urlacher

Torn PCL, it probably won’t ever heal. I had a scope in camp. It’s getting better every week.

Lance Briggs stresses me out some times because he moves around so much pre-snap. “Lance, you know it’s cover-2, right?” “I know, I know”. He always ends up in the right place.

Lance and I have our own form of communication. We switch assignments on the fly. We use his college number for some things, my high school number for other things. Sometimes we don’t have to say anything, just a look.

Charades: Coaches told us to sit down on the sidelines when the offense is on the field, so we’ve been playing charades for the last 3 years. We’re good, at least the way we play. We might not play the right way. Johnny Knox is terrible. Tim Jennings is bad, but getting better.

Box ‘em up: Sneak up behind a guy and put a box on his head (or a really big box over the top of his body, trapping his arms). Everyone hits the box and yells ‘box ‘em up’. Johnny Knox is the worst at this too. No one even boxes him anymore, it’s too easy.
Charles Tillman: I walked out of the locker room and everyone was just standing around. Israel Idonije was on the 2nd floor, dropped a box on my head. I wasn’t playing until today, now it’s on. Urlacher came out, “what happened?” “I got boxed up.” “who got you?” I pointed at someone else, when Urlacher turned to look, Idonije got him too.

Other games we play: 4-square, baseball, dodgeball, soccer (with a ball made of tape).

[Charles Tillman forced fumbles] in training camp guys were covering the ball with 2 hands and Tillman still got it out. He has unbelievable hand-eye coordination. We try to do what he does and we can’t. He has the perfect punch.

Charles Tillman

It depends on how he carries the ball, there’s always a weak spot. 5 pressure points that they teach in Pop Warner, I don’t believe in that. You can always get the ball out.

Boxing/MMA workout in the offseason. Just for cardio, I don’t spar. It’s the best workout for hand-eye coordination. My best punch is a left jab (Urlacher: then why do you always strip with your right hand?)

Andre Johnson doesn’t get the props he deserves because he’s played his whole career in Houston. He’s one of the top 3 receivers in the league.

Army brat: Went to 11 different schools. Born in Chicago, only here a few months. Moved to Louisiana, Germany, Kansas, back to Germany, California, Ohio, all before high school (only went to 1 high school).

Aunt Rene gave me the nickname Peanut. Mike Brown was giving all the DBs nicknames, “if you have a nickname you better say it or I’ll give you one”, “I’m Peanut”.
Whole family of nicknames. No one calls me Charles (except dad when he’s mad). Brother Donald, everyone calls him Duck. Peanut’s kids: Man-man, TT and Shoona-noona (all nicknames of course). [his kids names all start with ‘T’. Urlacher is pushing Tiffany for the latest. I haven’t heard the name for the girl who was born this week, but judging from the look Tillman gave Urlacher, I’m pretty sure it’s not Tiffany].

Doctors wanted to induce his wife on Saturday, she said no. She wanted to induce on Monday so she won’t miss a game. She hasn’t missed a game in 8 years.

Andre Johnson

University of Miami WR coach Curtis Johnson (now head coach at Tulane) taught me to run routes. I didn’t like him at first, he was so hard on me. I was a high school all-American, no one had every treated me like that.

Ed Reed was the comedian at Miami. I had playing against him. He always makes me laugh, I hate talking during a game.

I’ve only played in 2 games in the rain in my career, one in college and one in the pros.

Gary Kubiak

I had the scout team harass the offense this week, trying to strip the ball all the way down the field. Arian Foster was so mad on Thursday he was ready to fight someone, that’s a good thing.

Safeties Danieal Manning and (former CB) Glover Quin are key for us. Because they’re such good cover guys, we can stay in our base 3-4 when teams go to 3-wide.

J.J. Watt

[Saluting the Houston crowd] I thought it meant “I’m here and I’m ready to work”, I found out it’s actually a sign of respect. A Marine should me the proper way to do a salute last week, feet together, straight up and straight down. The adrenaline was going in the game, I screwed it up.

One arm is longer than two. If you try to bull rush a tackle by putting both hands on him, he can grab your body. By turning your shoulders and just using one arm, your body is farther away, gives him less to grab.

Hockey [Al Michaels is a huge hockey fan, so every conversation with Watt eventually turns to hockey]:
Played in a tournament in Germany when I was in the 6th grade. Team Chicago (but players from several states), we won and I led the entire tournament in goals scored. To this day it’s one of the coolest trips of my life. 10 days in Germany with my dad and grandpa.

I wasn’t this big when I played hockey, I grew late.

I really want to start skating again, but my mom knocked some sense into me. I can’t wait to get into an old man league when I retire.

Friends with Blake Geoffrion from Wisconsin. He was injured this week, skull fracture. I’m working on a hockey celebration for him. [Geoffrion’s grandfather, ‘Boom Boom’ Geoffrion, and great grandfather, Howie Morenz, are both in the Hockey Hall of Fame]

Notes:

The Texans are the only active team that the Bears have never beaten (0-3). The only 3 teams that the Bears have played but never beaten: Texans, Detroit Wolverines, Providence Steam Roller.

Texans are the only team that has active players that have led the league in rushing yards (Foster), receiving yards (Johnson) and passing yards (Schaub).

The Bears scored 51 points in week 9 at Tennessee, their most points on the road since 1963.

Tim Jennings has more INTs in 9 games this year (8) than any player had all of last year and more than he had in his first 6 seasons combined (7). [note – the NFL record for INTs in a seasons is 14, set in a 12-game season by a 25-year old undrafted rookie who only played 1 year of football in college and had been raised by a woman who found him abandoned and left for dead in a dumpster].